Mayhem (NOR) - Live in Leipzig (1993)^{Release ID: 509}

There’s probably not too many battle-hardened extreme metallers out there that would admit to this but I’ve never rated Norwegian black metal superstars Mayhem’s 1980’s releases. I genuinely can’t stand the 1986 “Pure Fucking Armageddon” demo while 1987’s Deathcrush” E.P. does very little for me either. It wasn’t until a 19 year-old Swedish kid by the name of Per Yngvie Ohlin (aka Dead) left his home country & his own band Morbid to join Mayhem in 1988 that I feel things started to go in the right direction. The arrival of drumming phenomenon Hellhammer would also make for a greatly improved offering & this is noticeably evident on Mayhem’s first & only proper release with their classic lineup in the 1993 live album “Live in Leipzig”, a recording that I picked up on CD shortly after it was released. All of a sudden Mayhem seemed quite a bit more exciting, having finally pulled together a more cohesive sound that would get under my skin in a creepy & noticeably more musically accomplished way. It wouldn’t be long before I would pick up “De Mysteriis dom Sathanas” on CD too & then the black metal landscape would change significantly almost overnight. Looking back, I’ve always regarded the “Live in Leipzig” release as being more important than it is classic. Let’s revisit it now to see if that opinion has any factual basis or not.

“Live in Leipzig” was recorded at a legendary show in Germany on 26th November 1990 at the Eiskeller Club & was originally intended as a live demo which the band would distribute themselves. The show has become synonymous with the birth of the black metal scene in Germany with most of the key personnel having been in attendance. The tracklisting includes material drawn from both the “Pure Fucking Armageddon” demo tape & the “Deathcrush” E.P. as well as four songs that would eventually end up on Mayhem’s genre-defining debut album “De Mysteriis dom Sathanas” in 1994. The show also represents the coming of age for Dead & for black metal in general as it’s really pretty amazing to think that this material was recorded a full eight months before Darkthrone would start recording their classic “A Blaze in the Northern Sky” sophomore album which is widely regarded as the release that kicked off the Second Wave of Black Metal in Norway. On the evidence of “Live in Leipzig”, one would have to suggest that Mayhem were a seriously major influence on that release as well as all of the other early Norwegian records that would follow too.

The sound production on “Live in Leipzig” isn’t exactly crystal clear. In fact, it’s rough as guts & one gets the feeling that this was intentional as there’s been no attempt made to smoothen out any of the rough edges. Guitarist Euronymous & bassist Necrobutcher’s tones are absolutely filthy & remind me a lot of my tape trading days given that they have that raw, uncontrolled rehearsal tape feel to them while losing nothing in the way of power. Necrobutcher’s bass tone is particularly immense, smothered in a thick layer of distortion. The technical skills of the various band members aren’t exactly virtuosic though. While Euronymous appears to have already mastered to art of tremolo-picking, his guitar solos are an absolute mess & showcase very little in the way of theoretical understanding or technique. Hellhammer’s drumming is still relatively immature by his lofty standards too & he would improve remarkably by the time he recorded “De Mysteriis dom Sathanas” a couple of years later. It’s Dead that’s the main attraction here though with his vocals giving each track a vastly different identity to their studio counterparts. His delivery is utterly savage & cold as fuck, the very essence of what it means to front a black metal act in one of the defining performances for the genre as a whole.

Despite, not being a fan of Mayhem’s early studio recordings, “Live in Leipzig” sees Mayhem breathing new life into the majority of the older material with only opener “Deathcrush” failing to interest me. While they may never threaten to achieve classic status, "Carnage", “Chainsaw Gutsfuck” & “Pure Fucking Armageddon” are massively improved from their studio versions, particularly the latter which has benefitted greatly from the involvement of Hellhammer. It’s clearly the newer material that’s where the highest quality meat can be found on these bones though with “Funeral Fog”, Mayhem’s notorious signature track “Freezing Moon” & the wonderful “Pagan Fears” (my personal favourite) reaching stratospheric levels of appeal for an impressionable teenage version of myself. The 80's material is noticeably more thrash-inspired than the newer stuff which already contained all of the signature calling cards of the modern black metal sound, a fact that's quite significant when remembering that the show was recorded more than a year before the Second Wave would eventually kick off.

While some of the early material included might not necessarily be all that ambitious by the lofty standards the Second Wave would set about reaching over the coming years, “Live in Leipzig” was still an incredibly important record for the Norwegian scene. It may not sound as polished as we’ve come to expect from a modern black metal live performance over the many decades since but boy does it have some fire & brimstone going on. Just listen to Euronymous’ guitar sound & tell me this bloke doesn’t know what it means to be a black metal musician. I’ve returned to “Live in Leipzig” many times over the years & can now categorically refute any claims that it has built its following more on hype than on genuine merit. That’s simply not the case & there can be no denying the impact that Mayhem had on virtually every young band that would explode out of their homeland over the next few years.

For fans of Gorgoroth, Darkthrone & 1349.